USGA Embracing Alternatives To Golf...Sort Of

John Paul Newport looks at the attempts to attract new players and retain longtime golfers through twists on the way most play golf. Interesting to see how the USGA is not resisting. Seems like a wise approach.

You might think that the USGA, as official keeper of the rules of golf, would be appalled at these newfangled notions. Not so. "Our job is to protect the traditional game as people know it," Mike Davis, the USGA's new executive director, told me. "But if people like Flogton come up with different kinds of games that relate to golf, we are fine with that." The scramble format commonly used in outings is not USGA-legal, he pointed out. Neither are gimmes or mulligans. But all are part of the fabric of golf as it is actually played.